Graffiti in Local Media
Last week Austin’s KXAN published a surprisingly levelheaded article covering local graffiti. It’s a welcome change from the traditional fearmongering tone adopted by most local media outlets. The reporters did their homework, interviewing the director of the Art Seen Alliance, an APD detective, and yours truly:
Participation in graffiti has expanded to include ATXgraffiti , a blog that serves as a fan site to document Austin graffiti.
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“It’s a shame when the city buffs over a beautiful mural that a writer clearly put work into,” he said. “Having the state pay to incarcerate young nonviolent artists is just bad public policy.”
Anyone interested in relevant graffiti law should check out the writing of Scott Henson, author of Grits For Breakfast. His pragmatic advocacy recognizes the importance of private property rights without throwing the inherent aesthetic value of graffiti out the window.
Here’s some more tunnel graffiti.
That last face tag on the side of the Mellow Mushroom was sent in by Tilde. Thanks!
Oy vey. Murals that promote community or honor specific events or people, such as the side of the old Varsity Theatre on the Drag are awesome. Painting your name/alias, cute little characters, and psuedo-countercultural iconography across the city on private and public property without the owners’ permission might be considered “art” in some circles, but it’s really just plain ol’ vandalism and rank self-promotion of the lowest order, no matter how much work went into it.
I agree, murals promting events and people are great but graffiti signing your name and adding a slogan in vandalism.